Sinister, Somber, Serene: How the Aesthetic Character of Places Shapes the Normative Landscape
Tue, February 10, 2026
Dinner Program
Erich Hatala Matthes
Erich Hatala Matthes
Erich Hatala Matthes is Professor and Chair of the Philosophy Department at Wellesley College, where he has taught for 13 years. He is the author of two books with Oxford University Press: Drawing the Line: What to Do with the Work of Immoral Artists From Museums to the Movies (2022) and What to Save and Why: Identity, Authenticity, and the Ethics of Conservation (2024). His research and teaching cover a wide range of topic on the ethics, politics, and aesthetics of cultural heritage, art, and the environment.
Professor Matthes's Athenaeum presentation is co-sponsored by the Gould Center for Humanistic Studies at CMC.